So, you want to see the team actively throw the remaining three games? Miss shots on purpose? Give up on crucial defensive possessions?
For the future.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Fair enough. I refuse to go there. Apparently that makes me a short-sighted moron.
Me too, Brother...me too.
So, I guess that I can tell my two young sons to go ahead and fix games (miss shots, play lackadaisical, etc).....so their (potential) future NBA team can get a desired spot in the draft......
.....a draft where, even though there are some talented players - there is absolutely no guarantee that ANY of them will pan out.
That's why - as I posted in a different thread - if we get Wiggins I'd ship him to CHI for Noah or POR for LaMarcus, or Minny for Kevin - give me a PROVEN star any day of the week.
I'd say - "Hey Wiggins glad to have you in Green - but you're going to Minny for KLove. We just traded you."
That's just me.
Unless your two young sons are playing for a lottery-bound NBA team, I don't see the correlation. The two situations could not be any different. Your later point regarding trading Wiggins/et all for an established player is a curious one as well. How do you anticipate getting Wiggins with the 5th or 6th (or worse) pick?
In my opinion, the real value for Ainge in having the top-4 pick is the threat of keeping that player and building around him. There seems to be a consensus about the top-4 and then a drop off from there. I would assume most of the other GMs around the league will know that Ainge is unlikely to keep a player drafted outside of the top-4, which deflates his trade market. Owning one of the top-4 picks in this draft allows him to either keep the player or let the trade market come to him if someone wants to over pay. Either way, an extra win or two over the next week drastically affects those opportunities for little to no long term benefit. From a simple business point of view, its simply not good value to win.
And just to go with your point, I would take it as a learning opportunity for your children that sometimes a step back can allow you to take two steps forward in life. This is one of those situations, it isn't a negative thing, its a building thing. I've enjoyed this season as much as any in the last few years because I feel like they are building a new house and just laid the foundation. That's how I view the losing, a necessary step back in order to take two big steps forward.
The main problem with your whole point is that you are making a whole lot of grand proclamations based on some assumptions that have very little in the way of solid evidence to back them up.
The most flawed assumption is taking it for granted that the "experts" know exactly which players are going to be the best players in this draft. I know they scout a lot, they are diligent, they get paid to know who has more potential relative to the other players in the draft, and they do a good job of it. The problem, however, is they are dealing in potential and they are dealing in assessing human beings.
They never get it right. At least up until now, they haven't. There has never been a draft where the experts clearly knew going into it which players where going to be the best pros. The closest was probably 2003, and even that one they didn't get fully right.
So, pardon me if I refuse to panic over the loss of a couple of percentage points in the lottery chances in exchange for seeing my Celtics get some wins to close out a miserable season.
I trust Ainge and his staff's talent evaluation, and I am hoping I can trust Brad Stevens' and his staff's ability to develop that talent. To me, those two aspects are going to be more important moving forward than a couple of spots up or down in the draft.
Topic: I've had all I can stand and I can't stands no more... (Read 14363 times)